Prosecutors: U.S. soldiers plotted to kill President Obama

By John Hudson

August 27, 2012

In a disturbing report out of Georgia, prosecutors say four U.S. soldiers plotted to overthrow the government and assassinate President Obama. Details remain slim about the case, but the AP's Russ Bynum says the soliders allegedly bought $87,000 worth of "guns and bomb-making materials and plotted to take over Fort Stewart, bomb targets in nearby Savannah and Washington state, as well as assassinate the president." The plot was apparently uncovered in relation to a murder case surrounding the killing of former soldier Michael Roark and his girlfriend Tiffany York in December. On Monday, Pfc. Michael Burnett, one of the accused soldiers, plead guilty to manslaughter and gang charges in the murder case. "Burnett told a Long County judge that Roark, who had just left the Army, knew of the militia group's plans and was killed because he was 'a loose end,'" reports Bynum.

As The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Jay Bookman notes, "Sometimes these things get blown out of proportion, but $87,000 in weaponry suggests otherwise. And when you’re willing to murder two people to keep the plot secret, you’re pretty serious about it." The news follows a controversial report published by Reuters' Daniel Trotta last week that the U.S. Army is battling soldiers within its ranks who enlist in the Army and Marine Corps "to acquire the skills to overthrow what some call the ZOG - the Zionist Occupation Government. Get in, get trained and get out to brace for the coming race war." At the time, Business Insider's Geoffrey Ingersoll pushed back against the report in a piece titled "Don't Believe the Report Going Around About Veterans Flocking to Right Wing Extremist Groups." The AP report doesn't say if the motivations to overthrow the government were racial or anti-semitic in nature in this case but much more details are likely to come.